Ever since i first got my steamdeck ive wanted to control an fpv airplane with it, ive read that the steamdeck should be able to control an ardupilot drone with qgroundcontrol as long as i have the right antennas. I think im supposed to use a wifi dongle in monitor mode or something. I want to get into building drones but i dont have a lot of money to spare at the moment so i was hoping someone with more knowledge about what actually matters in terms of drone hardware could help tell me what i need to get a basic fpv fixed wing drone working. Im a bit overwhelmed with all the different flight controllers and acronyms idk what an iomcu is or how many can busses i should have or anything.
From what i can tell i should be able to find a premade foam body with servos and motors then i add a flight controller, battery, camera and antennas, i should have some kinda gps module and an airspeed sensor, do i need anything else? Can someone make some recommendations for the cheapest hardware that still has everything i need? I dont mind spending a bit more upfront if i can get helpful features that i will want later but with all the different components it reminds me of building a pc and id hate to do the drone equivalent of blowing all my money on a fancy cpu or too much ram and having nothing left over for a good gpu or monitor or something.
Honestly im not even sure what ardupilot is, it seems to be like firmware? Is ardupilot the software that runs on the flight controller? If i choose a flight controller and load ardupilot onto it will that limit my choices for peripherals or are most things inter compatible with different flight controllers?
I just want someone to help me understand the ecosystem before i start throwing my money around and invest a bunch of time into a project only to realize i bought all incompatible hardware or spent too much on the wrong things or just too much in general, im probably going to crash a few times while learning to fly so id rather not get a ferrari for my learner but these things are also pricey so if i can spend a bit more now to save myself from having to buy all new hardware later when i find out what i actually want, that would be super helpful.